So Many Challenges, So Little Focus!

This morning, I finally got around to reading all of my Bloglines subscription-feeds. And, upon reading Wendy's "A Novel Challenge" blog posts, I've discovered a ton of new & interesting challenges -- blogger BOOK challenges, to be exact! -- for the 2008 reading year!

The two that caught my eye, most definitely, were:

* the 2008 Themed Reading Challenge

and

* the 8 Books in 8 Categories in 2008 Challenge!

Then, of course, there's my very own TBR Challenge, which will be continued in 2008 (year 2!). Changes are in the making for that group / challenge, but they're not huge... the best one being that anyone will be able to join, any time throughout the year -- no more "cut-off-date"! :-D

I also have personal challenges in mind:

• trying to read a few Classics (again)


• catching up / keeping up with my Reviewing
  (I have a great deal of books on that pile, waiting to-be-read!)


• attempting to keep reading my OWN books, instead of those from the library

Now, my *problem* with all of these wonderful challenges is that... I have very little FOCUS. I seem unable to pile so much upon myself, as I get overwhelmed, and then don't complete ANY of them!

Like this year (2007), for example...

I started my TBR Challenge to knock off some books on my TBR mountain that had been calling to me for way too long! The challenge is to read 12 TBR books, one each month. How many have I read so far? Only 3. [hangs head in shame] :-(

I joined in on the Classics Challenge earlier in the year, thinking I'd finally get around to reading some of the books in that category... I've been collecting the "Classics", after all, swearing that I'd read most of them some day! And, I read only 2, out of the 5 on my list. The other 3 are still sitting on the top of my bookshelf, staring at me, saying "Why haven't you read us yet? You said you were going to!"

I joined the Chunkster Challenge ... and, surprisingly!, I finished it! Mind you, I only chose to read 2 books for that challenge... but I did it! (Luckily, they were both books on my TBR Challenge list, as well!) I finally read "Middlemarch" by George Eliot, and "Envy" by Sandra Brown! Yay!

Then I created yet another challenge: Christian Genre Challenge (and, thankfully -- knock-on-wood -- I'm doing okay with it, so far!)

So, the question of the day is, "DO I DARE SIGN UP FOR THESE NEW CHALLENGES? JUST A COUPLE OF THEM?!"

Part of me screams "Nooooooo!" (I've been frustrated this year by not having the "freedom" to just read what I want from my shelves... just for the heck of it --- which brings to mind the fact that I should really join in on the just4thehelluvit challenge! LOL)

But, another part of me just cannot resist a new challenge ... especially when it's book-related! I want to try! I want to take part, and be included! LOL

What to do? What to do?

Guess I'll have to "chew" on this one for a while... ;-)

Currently Reading...

After months of not liking the offerings put out by HarperCollins Canada's First Look program, I finally found something that sounds good... and I got picked to review it! :o)


MOSQUITO by Roma Tearne

Book Description:
A classic novel of love and war—a lush, cinematic story in the tradition of The English Patient

Set adrift by the recent death of his wife, Theo Samarajeeva abandons his comfortable writer’s life in London and returns to Sri Lanka, his homeland. Within the protective confines of his beach house outside of Colombo, and under the watchful eye of his loyal servant, Sugi, he attempts to finish his latest novel, though the threat of violence lurks just beyond his door.

Meanwhile, Nulani, a mysterious and artistically talented young woman, installs herself on Theo’s veranda and begins to paint him, capturing in her vivid portraits a man in search of redemption.

As an unorthodox and tenuous love blossoms between this unlikely pair, Sri Lanka’s simmering civil war creeps ominously close, threatening to destroy their fragile happiness. Just when Nulani feels, for the first time in years, that she is loved, and Theo begins to believe he has a future, the terror of war spreads across the nation, converting ordinary citizens into enemy combatants and outsiders into tools for blackmail. In this climate of chaos, both Nulani and Theo must call upon their memories and their art to survive.

Set against the tableau of the Sri Lankan conflict between the Tamils and the Singhalese, and sweeping from Sri Lanka to Venice and London, Mosquito is an emotionally charged, unforgettable story that illuminates the power of love and memory.

Author and artist Roma Tearne, who fled Sri Lanka when she was young, unflinchingly captures the menace of war while at the same time imbuing her spellbinding work with immense humanity and moral vision.